Dear Bob ... I run a small IT group. One member of the group is a fantastic programmer, but his interpersonal skills in any situation larger than 1:1 make a porcupine look snuggly. He's a good guy, and tremendously productive. But I'm working on team coherence. How can I get him to come out of his shell and participate in group activities? Should I just leave him be? Doesn't this contribute to the prima-donna re Dear Bob …I run a small IT group. One member of the group is a fantastic programmer, but his interpersonal skills in any situation larger than 1:1 make a porcupine look snuggly. He’s a good guy, and tremendously productive. But I’m working on team coherence. How can I get him to come out of his shell and participate in group activities? Should I just leave him be? Doesn’t this contribute to the prima-donna reputation of IT people?– Attempted Team-builder Dear Teamster …Before answering your question, I have to challenge your skills as a naturalist. Porcupines have quills. It’s armadillos that have shells. I suppose you could cross the two and get a critter that has both. But just thinking about this makes my eyes cross, so let’s get to your challenge.You say you’re trying to foster team coherence. That’s generally a good idea, but it still gives you wide latitude. If the problem is that your problem child is an armadillo … he has a shell and isn’t leaving it … put him on the spot in team meetings. “What do you think we should do, Army?” you might ask, remaining silent until he answers. If he’s a very tough case, start small. When you have some technical challenges to solve, convene a four-person group instead of putting him in the crosshairs in a meeting of the full team.Build it up. And give him the full-court press: When you delegate to other team members or advise them on technical subjects, instruct them to seek Army’s advice. Armadillos are shy. Handled with some subtlety you can usually get them to become more social, simply by paying attention to them and encouraging others to do the same.If you’re dealing with a porcupine you have a more difficult challenge. Mostly, you have to challenge every infraction of the basic rules of courtesy, as soon as you can arrange a private word. “You can’t do that, Porky,” you should say. “I don’t care how dumb you think a comment is. You can say anything to anyone, but you can’t say it any way you want. So next time, focus on the issue, not the person. And next time, take ownership instead of claiming access to cosmic truth. Repeat after me: ‘I disagree. Here’s why.’ It works much better than, ‘You’re wrong, you cretin,’ and it’s more accurate, too.” If it turns out you’re dealing, not with an armadillo or a porcupine, but with a mollusc (hey, you try to carry this metaphor to the finish line!) and one that’s too tough to open, you have a relatively simple decision to make. If you can organize the work so your guy can do a worthwhile job all by himself, keep him. But let him know he isn’t going to progress very far unless he stops clamming up and learns to play better with others.If, on the other hand, you’re using methodologies and processes that require collaboration, you have to make clear what Clammy needs to do differently to succeed. And if he doesn’t do it, you’ll have to show him the door.I do want to call attention to a point: Fostering team coherence for its own sake is useful but not compelling. Guys like Clammy need unambiguous and inarguable logic to understand the need to work differently. That’s why tying the requirement to methodologies and processes is so important. “You aren’t doing the work,” is hard to counter. Compared to that, “You hurt Fred’s feelings,” is a pretty wimpy logic. – Bob ——– Technology Industry